Thanks for writing this, Loran. I've come to a more fundamental view, and it isn't all of the answer, but part of an explanation. Most of human civilization is structured around rewarding aggression and ownership/selfishness. Historically, it is functionally paternalistic and men are at fault both for physical intimidation and for building systems that lock in that power over anyyone not at the top of the pyramids. Are men solely to blame? No, but these systems of extraction need to be disassembled by the people who presently own the tools (markets, tax codes, laws) that are needed. Here's the thing: it's not because they are men; it's because power corrupts anyone, and power follows the money; money follows extraction and aggression.
In simpler terms, people saying they hate men actually hate bullying, but bullies own the corrupting power and bullies never believe they are selfish "Never try to teach a pig to sing". Generally, everyone gets a little power sometime, but instinctively avoid hurting others with it (common decency). Competitive societies reward using power to get more power, and so we end up back to the beginning: with rich men in control of systems that make others serve those systems. We look around and see all the victims and think, "We should protect them", but what really needs to be done is to stop making everything onto another competition. As soon as we do, then the path to a tournament is paved, where there are very few winners and very many losers. Humans have been conductiong a war against Nature that cannot be won. The only way to win is to forfeit and join Nature's team. Privileged people will fight to the death to keep the profitable war on Reality going, and the rest of the world should walk away and let them. Wars only stop when soldiers stop showing up for their dumbass gods.
Competition paints targets on everyone, but resentment pulls the trigger. Most media will amplify resentments to sell advertising, and then people follow that path believing the resentment(hate xxx), not the original competition (coerced fanaticism) is the actual problem. Community building is always about reducing competition and avoiding resentments. Capitalists do the opposite(monopolising and antagonizing) and call it "freedom" and "meritocracy."
